Distance learning is the ideal solution for anyone wanting to train as a news journalist, features writer, freelance writer or creative writer without having to juggle an existing career or other commitments. Simply by studying at home and corresponding regularly with your tutor you can set yourself on the path to knowledge and success - all while working at your own pace.

Whether a short story is meaningful and gritty or light entertainment, a good one is a work of art. It’s a brief encounter. It’s a glimpse into another life. It’s complete and self-contained. With no room for padding the short story also bares the elements of the writing craft – your writing craft – to scrutiny. It’s like illuminating a single painting on an otherwise empty wall.

The great thing about a short story is that it is short. Whether the word count is in the hundreds or in the thousands, completing it is within your capabilities. It doesn’t swallow up a year or two of your life as a novel might; there is one story strand for you to manage not several and there’s no room for a throng of characters.

Successful fiction writing normally depends upon a mixture of ability and technique. There are no opportunities to allow the characters to 'develop', or for situations to 'arise' as in a novel. Within a few hundred words the story must seize the reader's attention, develop and end - preferably with an unexpected twist.

‘Technique’ is where the London School of Journalism comes in. This course and the one-to-one contact with your tutor will provide you with what you need to develop your own style and skills and greatly improve your chances of becoming a successful published writer.